Smotrich says sending negotiation team to Cairo ‘a mistake’

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Tuesday that sending a negotiation team to Cairo was “a mistake”, Sama has reported. The far-right extremist called on the government not to succumb to international pressure.

Smotrich made his comment on X after the Hebrew TV Channel 12 quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that It was expected that the delegation involved in the negotiations would head to Cairo within the following few hours. The source explained that the team was going to the Egyptian capital in order to “listen and ask questions in light of the significant gaps” without further details.

However, Smotrich, the leader of the far-right Religious Zionism party, insisted that, “The delegation’s trip to Cairo is a mistake, and it is falling into the trap of manipulation set by Hamas with Qatar and Egypt.”

He referred to the resistance movement’s leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, saying: “This is the right time to put more and more pressure on Sinwar’s neck and Hamas until they are eliminated.”

Smotrich added his belief that the talking should now be done “with fire only.”

READ: Netanyahu rejects Gaza ceasefire offer, says ‘very far’ from Israel’s demands